Nov. 25, 2005
Los Angeles, Ca - Junior outside hitter Kristin Richards tied her career-high with 31 kills to lead the fifth-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team to a 24-30, 30-28, 30-23, 30-28 victory over 16th-ranked UCLA in a Pacific-10 match Friday night at Pauley Pavilion.
Richards hit .367 and added a match-high 16 digs as the Cardinal raised its season record to 24-5 overall and 13-4 in the Pac-10. UCLA fell to 17-10 overall and 9-8 in the conference.
Stanford's block was effective. The Cardinal collected 28 team blocks. Freshman middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo tallied a career-high 12 blocks (2 solos).
A 3-0 run in game one gave UCLA a 7-4 lead and the Cardinal could never recover. The Bruins' lead extended to as many as eight points at 16-8, and Stanford could get no closer than four points at 24-20. Game one (24-30) ended in favor of the Bruins on a kill by Katie Carter. Stanford hit only .098 while the Bruins checked in at .265.
Stanford prevailed in game two but it wasn't easy. The Cardinal jumped to a 6-3 lead, and never trailed. Then at 25-20 in favor of the Cardinal, UCLA scored five straight points to tie the match. Then at 28-28, a cross-court kill by Richards and a hitting error by UCLA gave Stanford game two (30-28). Stanford's hitting percentage was much better at .361.
The Bruins took a quick 4-3 lead in game three, but from then on it was all Cardinal. A 6-1 run gave Stanford a 24-18 lead, and the Bruins could get no closer than four points at 26-22. Game three (30-23) ended on a kill by Nji Nnamani. Stanford hit .366 while the Cardinal defense held the Bruins to a .111 percentage. Richards produced nine of Stanford's 18 kills in game three.
Stanford seemingly had the game and match in hand in game four, but the Bruins fought to the end. A 5-0 run gave Stanford a 23-13 lead. But the Bruins fought to within one point at 27-26. But at 29-28, Nnamani ended the evening for UCLA with a kill.
Stanford travels to No. 13 USC on Saturday (7 p.m.).
Cardinal Catalogue
Stanford has now won ten straight matches over UCLA dating back to 2001 ... That winning streak includes five straight decisions at Pauley Pavilion ... With 62 assists, senior setter Katie Goldhahn now has 2,020 for her career.
Daily Diary
Hey, where's the traffic??? ... Normally, it takes nearly an hour to travel the congested Los Angeles freeways to go 20 miles from the team hotel to UCLA's Pauley Pavilion ... Not so on this day after Thanksgiving ... The L.A. freeways are nearly empty ... It only takes 20 minutes from the hotel to the Bruin campus which is a ghost town with the students off for the holidays ... Tonight's crowd also includes former Stanford volleyball All-American Kristin Klein, who lives in nearby Pacific Palisades and is married to former Cardinal basketball star Adam Keefe ... Kristin and her family have endowed a Stanford volleyball scholarship (The Kristin and Adam Keefe Family Scholarship) which is being used by freshman Foluke Akinradewo ... Cobey Shoji, Director of Volleyball Operations, spent part of her day in Santa Barbara, 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles ... Shoji purchased a 2003 Ford Escape SUV in Santa Barbara, and then made the drive back to the team hotel in Los Angeles with her new means of transportation ... After the match at UCLA, it was back on board the bus straight back to the hotel ... However, this time the team made a quick stop at Diddy Riese's Cookie Shop in Westwood for a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich ... DELICIOUS!!! ... Several members of the Stanford water polo team were among the those in attendance to cheer on the Cardinal ... Stanford is competing in this weekend's MPSF Tournament in Los Angeles, and earlier in the day, the Cardinal scored a win over Pepperdine ... Stanford faces UC Irvine on Saturday ... Nji Nnamani says she wants to start a new band, composed entirely of six Stanford team members ... Njnamani calls the band ENIYA ... The band's name is taken from the last letters of each member's last letter of their first name; E-LizziE Suiter; N-KristiN Richards; I-FrancI; Y-CourtneY Schultz, and A-NjidekA Nnamni ... Nnjmani says, of course, she would be the "hearthrob" ... The band would include Courtney Schultz *the emotional one", Lizzie Suiter, Kristin Richards (the shy innocent one from the country), Franci Girard, and of course Katie Goldhahn, who would be the backbone of the group as band manager.
Stanford (24-5 overall, 13-4 Pac-10) 24 30 30 30
UCLA (17-10 overall, 9-8 Pac-10) 30 28 23 28